Gas station agitation grows in N.J. in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Long lines for gasoline like this one seen late Halloween night at the Wawa in Leonardo have plagued communities around Monmouth County and New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.Mark J. Bonamo/NJ.com

As Monmouth County struggles to recover this week from the devastation incurred by Hurricane Sandy, one critical need has risen to the surface: gasoline.

Long lines made up of stressed local residents already at wit’s end in the storm’s aftermath are stretching for miles at gas stations across Monmouth and other parts of the Jersey Shore. And there is no clear hope for neither immediate nor long-term relief in sight.

“We left our house at 8:15 p.m., and it’s now 11:45 p.m.,” said Kara Fisler, 19, of the Port Monmouth section of Middletown, with her fiancée Chelsea Villano, 19, as they waited outside the Wawa convenience store and gas station in Leonardo on Route 36 to fill up late Halloween night. “It’s infuriating – we live about a mile and a half away, a less than five minute drive from here. But the wait is worth it – we have our seven-month old son, Antonio, at home, so we need heat for our generator to keep him warm. We really need gas.”

The frustrating focus on finding fuel after the storm has been aggravated by the lack of electricity that helps station employees to keep pumping gas. It has also led to lines that meander on down major Monmouth streets and highways, mirroring the remembered fuel crisis of the 1970s. Ultimately, the grim search for gas has pushed the limits of civilians and law enforcement personnel alike, testing people’s politeness in the face of a serious situation.

A flickering red line of taillights at the combined service station and rest stop just south of Exit 100 on the Garden State Parkway in Wall Township Halloween night was one of many surreal scenes across Monmouth and other areas of New Jersey affected by the storm.

Police officers, positioned to promote swift and civilized traffic flow in and out of the gas pumps, performed professionally and patiently, even when those waiting for fuel showed less than common sense.

“We’re not goddamn babysitters,” one officer was overheard saying to another after he asked a woman driving a Lexus SUV to please stop performing a K-turn in the middle of the long line, blocking cars trying to leave. “People need to come together at a time like this and think less about themselves. And we need to be out there in those dark streets, protecting the public.”

The concept voiced by this nameless police officer was confirmed by the couple at the Wawa in Leonardo, who where still waiting for gas long past midnight. After all, they had just been robbed in broad daylight back home in Port Monmouth.

“Somebody stole our car at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, right in front of our house,” said Villano from outside of her aunt’s borrowed car. “My car was empty, and there was almost no gas in it. I guess people are desperate. But I still need my car for my son, and I can’t even get back and forth to the store to buy food for him. I don’t think they have to put this many police officers at gas stations. They should be out there catching people who are stealing. Look at what happened. They robbed me.”

“The gas situation is horrible,” Kyrillos said Friday morning while he visited the relief command center at the Union Beach Fire Department, where efforts to help the battered Bayshore community are being coordinated. “In the short term, the power companies seem to be working at a snail’s pace, although I know that they’re inundated. “I’m told that they’re doing everything humanly possible. But when this is over, we’ll find out if that’s the case. We’ve got to power up these gas stations so that they can pump gas.”

While politicians and their constituents considered what will happen next, an environment not unlike that in the post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” science fiction films continued to radically alter life for Monmouth residents.

Under a leaden sky at the Collingswood Circle Exxon station at the junctures of Routes 33 and 34 in Farmingdale on Friday afternoon, the quest for regular unleaded gas, holding steady at around $3.79 a gallon, continued unabated. People wearing suits and ties, football jerseys and skirts with boots stood and waited with New Jersey’s newest fashion-forward accessory for the fall of 2012 in hand: the red, plastic gallon gas jug.

Jerry Mitchell, 66, of Wall Township, stood in line dressed in hunting camouflage gear, double-fisting two sets of plastic jugs totaling over 10 gallons of gas. He had already filled up the 30-gallon tank of his pickup truck, and now was preparing to fill up two cars at his home that had no gas. Mitchell also was making sure he had enough gas to get to his mother-in-law’s house in Spring Lake to power the generator in her heatless home.

Jerry Mitchell, right, of Wall Township, lines up on Friday at a Farmingdale gas station with several plastic gallon jugs to fill with gas for his family.Mark J. Bonamo/NJ.com

Mitchell smiled slightly as he assessed the situation surrounding him and a wide swath of New Jersey. He did so with the distinct twang in his voice of a Kentucky native, a state where many residents are no strangers to the use of firearms for whatever reason necessary.

“On my block, we watch each other’s houses, and we watch each other’s back,” Mitchell said. “Let’s just say that we are very well protected around here. Very well protected.”